


The Soul That Split

by Cheshyhooks



Series: Poltergeists [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: A Lot of People Are Dead, Abduction, No Gore, Poltergeists, Soul-Splitting, death of a family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-10 01:10:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11680863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheshyhooks/pseuds/Cheshyhooks
Summary: Florian Zwingli was an ambitious man that lead many people to their deaths. His corruption had blinded them from the light. He did everything he could to lead them to it, but was unsuccessful. He then found a child, one without a soul. He made a contract with him.When Lily's brother gets abducted by poltergeists, she must do everything she can to get him to come home.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> This is the beginning of a series I might not even finish, but you know what? It should be fun to work on.

“I will bring you salvation! In times of peril, we must look for that light!” He lead the people forward, “This war won't kill us all!”  
Bombs fell, surrounding them. Regardless though, Mr.Zwingli lead them away. He wanted to take them to Switzerland, his home country. Austria had become a war zone, he was doing what he believed to be right. But he was a corrupt leader. He demanded payment, sacrifice, and for his followers to worship him. He didn't care for their well-being, he just wanted the fame and glory that came with saving people from a war.   
“Sir, it's too dangerous to keep heading this way!” His second in command stared at him with large fearful eyes.   
Mr.Zwingli sighed in protest, but decided that he was right, “We must find shelter until morning, this way!” He lead them into a cave. They all waited in there, ash filling up their airways. The people were scared, but Zwingli assured them all that everything would be fine as long as they looked to him for guidance. He would save them, he assured.   
The people began coughing and wheezing. Their place of refuge had been filled with smoke.   
“It's ok, come morning we'll all be ok!”  
The more Zwingli spoke, the more he fed a false sense of hope into their ears. They believed him, even as their friends fell dead at their feet.  
Even Zwingli had been overcome by the smoke. He fell dead to the ground after what he thought felt like hours of suffering. The people stared at their dead ruler, and they knew that they wouldn't make it out of there alive.

Lily stared at her reflection in the mirror. She might regret her decision to cut her hair later, but for now she was happy. She smiled to herself as she left the bathroom. Her parents wouldn't know about her new haircut, but she didn't mind. She liked how they were almost never home, she got to spend more time with her brother that way.   
Vash sat on the couch crocheting a hat for Lily. Winter was still a little ways off, but he was bored and thought she'd like it. He looked up as Lily walked past him, “Hey Lily. What happened to your hair?”  
“I cut it.”  
“It looks cute.” He smiled slightly before getting back to the hat he was working on. The hat itself was done, but he'd recently found a pattern for a rose and was making one to go on the side.  
“Thank you.” Her heart fluttered in her chest. She sat down next to him, “So what are you making?”  
“It's a surprise.” He smirked.   
“Ok.” She walked into the kitchen and looked for some sweet things to munch on. She was unsuccessful, so she decided to make herself a cup of coffee instead. She stared at her cup as she stirred.   
Thunder roared in the distance, causing Lily to shudder. She hated the summer storms. They were loud and she'd grow anxious of lightning. What if it zapped their house? Or a tree, causing it to fall? That'd be dangerous. She didn't want that! She loved rain, but lightning was dangerous and thunder was loud and frightening.   
Lily sat down on the couch next to Vash. She carefully sipped her tea and glanced at Vash's little project. It was cute and she wondered who it was for.   
Vash noticed Lily tense up at the sound of the thunder. He put the hat down and walked into Lily’s room. He came back carrying her favorite blanket, “Can you put your tea down?”  
She did, only to be scooped up and wrapped in her blanket. She smiled warmly as Vash sat her down. He kept her in his arms, but continued working on his crochet. It was almost done.  
After fifteen minutes, Vash snipped off the end of the yarn and weaved in the tail. He placed the hat on Lily's head. He examined her for a moment before saying, “It looks good on you.”  
“Really?”  
“Yep. I'm hungry, we should get started on dinner.” He placed her aside and got up. Lily followed him to the kitchen, keeping the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She sat down in one of the chairs while Vash opened up a can of stew and dumped it in a pot.   
Lily stared at him lovingly. She wished that he wouldn't be leaving at the end of the summer. She loved his company, even if he wasn't that good at expressing his emotions.   
Vash stared at the pot as he heated up the food. He stirred it slowly but made sure to scrape at the bottom to avoid letting it get stuck and burn. He listened to the rain as it poured heavily from the sky. He questioned his existence, the world was so complicated. Why did the world let things like trees live the way they did? Why didn't they walk and talk like he did? Did he even deserve to be a sentient creature? Why was he capable of thought but spiders weren't?  
Lily thought about what it would be like to live with Vash for the rest of her life. Of course, he'd also have to live alongside Lily’s wife or girlfriend, but it'd still be nice.   
Vash got down a pair of bowls and spoons and served up their food. He placed it on the table, “Eat up.”  
“Thank you.” Lily dug into her food.   
Vash sat down to eat. He saw a bright flash of lightning in the distance, “That was a big one!” Thunder boomed halfway through Vash's words, causing the house to shake a little.   
Lily’s eyes widened, “It was! What if it hits something though?”  
“We'll be fine, don't worry.”  
“How do you know? Lightning could strike our house!”  
“Chances of that happening are very small, there's nothing you should worry about.”  
After dinner, Vash took Lily's bowl and washed it for her, “You should do something relaxing or something. Go take a bath, use that bath bomb you were all excited about.”  
“Ok.” Lily smiled warmly at Vash before walking off to take up his suggestion.   
Vash finished cleaning quickly. He decided to get his sketch book out and draw.   
Lily stepped into the hot water. She didn't expect it to be as hot as it was, but it was nice. She let out a relaxed sigh. Vash had the right idea suggesting she did this. Lily smiled to herself, Vash always knew just what would make her day better. She couldn't have wished for a more perfect brother.   
Lily stared at the ceiling, letting her mind wander. Memories of when she was little came across. Vash was a bit of an asshole when they were younger. He was still selfless, but it was before Lily had come to understand that he didn't know how to be emotive. She remembered when he too had been afraid of thunderstorms, he'd hide in a small closed space and wait with his eyes widened in fear until it was over. She giggled to herself when she remembered how scared he'd get. But one day he just changed. He bottled up his fear and pretended that everything was fine. Lily wondered if he still did that.  
After 20 minutes of drawing a rabbit, Vash got bored. He stepped outside and let the rain fall peacefully on his head. He remembered how scared he used to be of rain until he'd had that one encounter while his family had gone out on this week long hiking trip. He'd fallen behind when he'd stopped to watch a deer, but got lost when trying to find his parents.

Vash looked out in the distance, but couldn't see his parents. He ran forward, calling out for his parents. He felt a splash of rain hit his head. He stopped and stared at the sky. He couldn't believe his luck. He ran in the direction he thought his parents were, but slipped down hill. Once he stopped sliding, he got up and anxiously spun around. He didn't know where he was, nor where his parents were. He ran again, desperately searching for someone, anyone at that point.   
After an hour, he found a cave and took refuge there. He watched the rain fall. He didn't know where his parents had gone, he was alone, he was lost. Vash stared at the sky, he hated rain.   
“Hey little guy, are you lost?” A ghostly figure appeared next to him. He looked like an older version of Vash, same messy chin lengthed blond hair and everything.   
“Who are you?” Vash backed up.knowing all too well the dangers of talking to strangers.  
“It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt ya, you can call me Uncle Zwingli.”  
“But that's my last name!”  
“That's because we're family, kiddo.” The ghostly man sighed, “You need help, don't you?”  
“I've lost my parents.” Vash gasped, “What if I never find them? What if I die out here?”  
“It's ok, Vash, I can help you. You just have to promise me something in return.”  
“What do you want? I don't have much.”  
“When the time comes, I'm going to need your help. You'll know when the time comes.”  
“Ok! I'll do anything! Please, just help me get back to my family!”  
The man smiled, “That's all I needed to hear.” He took Vash's hand and lead him through the woods.  
Vash flinched when he saw a flash of lightning.  
“What? A big boy like you is afraid of a bit of lightning?”  
“It's scary!” Vash complained.  
“I'll tell you what's scary, being trapped in the mortal world years after you've died. Salvation is all I've ever wanted, but I was deemed unfit! I just want to see my sister again and get the recognition I deserve for saving them!”  
Vash stared at him. He realized that his fears and problems weren't as bad as other people's. He felt shame for being scared.  
Zwingli lead Vash back to his parents, who surprisingly hadn't even realized he was gone.  
Vash waved goodbye to him and watched the man fade away. 

The rain felt nice on Vash’s back. He walked back inside though and got a fire going in the fireplace.   
He heard Lily walk out of the bathroom. He decided not to bother her about dessert yet.   
Lily, after getting dressed, walked into the living room and sat down on the floor next to Vash, “Hello.”  
He looked over to see her, “Hey. You still scared?”  
“Not as much as I was earlier.” She examined him, “Did you go out in the rain?”  
“Yeah, just for a little bit though.”  
The two watched the fire for a bit. Lily gradually began to feel tired, “I'm going to bed. Good night.”  
“Good night, sleep well.” He watched her leave. He decided that it would be a good idea to go to bed too, so he put out the fire, grabbed his things, and went to his room. He put his things away and took a shower before going to bed.  
He laid down on his bed, listening to the rain. He heard his parents come home from work and go to bed themselves. He stared at the rocking chair he had sitting at his desk. It slowly began rocking. Vash sat up to watch it. There wasn't a breeze of any kind in his room, so why it moved was a mystery to him. He heard something slowly drag across his walls. He felt his heart begin to race in fear.  
Lily woke up to a bright flash that had been followed by a boom instantly. She sat up and looked out her window. A tree caught fire as it was struck. Lily stared wide eyed in terror as it came crashing down on their house.   
Vash was startled by a loud crashing sound. Flames began to devour his room. Vash jumped up and ran up to his door. The knob was unbearably hot, rendering the door useless. Vash felt something take hold of his foot and drag him to the ground. Vash tried to take hold of anything that could save him from the force dragging him away, but everything hurt to touch. He stared at the thing that took hold of him, it was the ghostly man who'd saved him all those years ago, the two looked identical at this point. Vash was surprised to see him again, but was more scared. He wasn't sure what Zwingli intended to do to him. He gasped for air as he was pinned to the ground. Vash tried calling out for help, but his lungs didn't have the strength.  
A bright light erupted from Zwingli, engulfing Vash inside it.   
Lily stared at the house that had been engulfed in flames. She'd been the only one to leave the house. Her neighbors had called for firemen. Lily ran up to one of them, “My family’s still in there! Please, you have to save them!”


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same as chapter one

The courts had decided that Lily could live with her friends Francis and Roderich, who gladly took custody of her. With legal guardians and funerals done and over with, she was no longer the court's problem.   
Lily sat down on her new bed. She was grateful for everything Roderich and Francis had done for her, but the death of her family had still been a recent event for her. She found it heartbreaking how Vash didn't even have a body to bury. Images of the flames and the charred remains of her parents were fresh in her mind.   
Francis knocked on her door, “Lily? You ok? You've been awfully quiet since you moved in, is there anything we can do?”  
Lily looked up, “Oh, hey.”  
Francis sat down on the bed next to her, “Listen, what happened was an utter tragedy, take as much time to grieve as you see fit, but Vash wouldn't want to see you sad like this. It'd break his heart.”  
“There wasn't even a body we could bury.” She whimpered, “What does it matter what he'd think? He's gone! There's nothing left of him! He's never coming back!”  
Francis sighed, “Oh honey, I know. It's devastating what happened. But things can only go up from here, right?”  
“I guess.”  
Francis hugged Lily, “I promise you, we'll get through this, ok?”  
Lily hugged him back, “Ok.”  
Roderich finished setting the table for dinner. He looked up and smiled as his two housemates walked in just in time, “Oh, Dinner is just about done.”   
Lily sat down at the table and watched as Francis and Roderich placed the food on the table, “Thank you.” She stated as the two sat down to eat. She picked at her food, but are it regardless. She placed her fork down to take a sip of the tea Roderich had made for her. When she picked up her fork again, she stared at it in bewilderment. She placed the now bent fork down and got up to replace it.  
“How'd you bend it without touching it?” Francis asked amazed.  
“I don't know, it just kinda did I guess.” Lily shrugged.

The following day, while Francis and Roderich were at work, Lily decided to clean up the house to keep her mind off of her brother. She found cleaning to be therapeutic.   
It was time for her to sweep up the floor, she placed a chair on the table. The sink had turned itself on, so she turned around to go fix it. When she turned back to face the table, she found all of the chairs delicately stacked on the table. She paused for a moment before nervously picking up the broom.   
Once she'd mopped the floor and had placed the chairs back on the floor, she decided to clean up the living room next. She felt something hit her head. She looked up at the ceiling before checking to see what had fallen. It was the watch Vash had given her on her last birthday. She thought she'd lost it in the fire that killed her family, but she must have been mistaken.  
The familiar scooting sound of a chair scraping up against the floor summoned Lily back to the kitchen. The chairs were back on the table. Lily felt generally scared by the little oddities. She dropped the watch in surprise as the sink turned on again. She turned it off and stopped to collect her watch, but instead found it slowly spinning around the kitchen. She decided to leave it there as proof for when her guardians came home.

“Then this watch fell from the ceiling! It started spinning around the kitchen, Francis!” Lily excitedly dragged him to the kitchen, “Look!”  
Francis watched as the watch practically danced on the floor. It was most certainly odd, “When Roderich gets home, he better see this.”  
“Absolutely!”  
“Lily, do you know what this means?”  
“What?”  
“Our house might be haunted!”  
“Are you suggesting that this is Vash’s doing?” Lily felt her heart begin to race. If it was Vash, then maybe she'd be able to say some proper goodbyes, or maybe she'd get to tell him that she loved him once more.  
“It's possible, but we can't be certain.”  
The two waited outside for Roderich to come home. When his car pulled up, the two sprang up excitedly to tell him about their discovery.  
“This is definitely very strange, but are you sure it's a ghost?”  
“It has to be!” Lily exclaimed, “What else could it be?”   
Roderich sighed, “I don't know, but ghosts don't normally move things. It could be a poltergeist, and if that were the case, it's not likely that it'd be Vash.”  
“You have a point, mon amour.” Francis stated, “Vash was a bit strange, but he certainly wasn't corrupt or anything.”  
“But it has to be him! Who else could it be?” Lily glanced back at the watch.   
“I don't know, but we should wait for more evidence that it's him.” Roderich replied.  
“But then what? If it's a poltergeist, won't things get dangerous? We need to have a plan in case it does.”   
“Vladimir Popescu.” Lily stated, “He was kind of friends with Vash, he knows all sorts of things about this stuff. He can be our go to when things get rough.”  
Francis and Roderich exchanged approving glances before agreeing, “Sounds like a plan then.”

Lily sat on the couch playing on her phone. It had been a few days since her watch fell from the ceiling. She heard it begin to make noises again before it spat out the hat Vash made for her the day he died. She took it and examined it. She smiled warmly as she thought of her brother trying to cheer her up from the afterlife. She noticed something inside the hat, which she.promptly took out. She screamed and dropped the dead squirrel on the floor. Then, like thunder, the house loudly boomed, “I AM NOT DEAD!”   
Francis came home to find the house screaming at him and the living room ceiling practically puking up small household items. He found Lily in her room huddled in a corner while her things flew around her room menacingly.  
“Are you ok?” Francis made his way over, dodging the objects thrown at him.  
“This is all Vash’s doing!” She ducked as a book was thrown at her head.  
“How do you know?”  
“He told me!”   
“Come on Lily, we gotta get out of here.” He took her hand and lead her out of the house. He had her wait in his car while he called Roderich, “Hey honey, I think the ghost’s back. The house is screaming, there's a tornado in Lily’s room, and the living room ceiling is making toasters. It might be time to call Vladimir.”  
“Are you sure? Wait, I'm on my way home now, I'll check it out when I get there.”  
“Ok, I love you.”  
“Love you too.”  
Francis hung up, “He's on his way home, so, what did he tell you?”  
“Who?”  
“Vash. How do you know it's him?”  
“He yelled that he wasn't dead, then when I hid in my room, he appeared standing in the doorway. He tried to say a few other things, but I couldn't make it all out. Then he spazzed out and everything in my room started attacking me.”  
Francis nodded, “Ok, when Roderich gets here He should help us determine if we should call Vladimir.”  
“Ok… What if Vladimir hurts Vash? I know he's causing problems and all that, but he's still my brother.”  
“Can a something that's dead even be hurt?”  
“I wouldn't want to risk it if that's the case.”  
Roderich’s car pulled up. He stepped out and was greeted by his two spooked housemates.  
“Roderich, you have to see this!” Lily and Francis took his hands and dragged him inside. He was startled, he never expected any of these things Francis said was happening to be true, “You know, calling Vladimir doesn't sound like a bad idea.”   
Francis turned to face Lily, “Do you know his number?”  
“Yeah.” She took her phone out of her pocket and dialed him up. She handed the phone to Francis.  
“Hello? Who's this?”  
“Vladimir, it's me, Francis. Our house seemed to be haunted-”  
“Just tell me your address and I'll be there tomorrow to inspect your house. If it's serious then it might take a few days to expel whatever’s invading your home. So, has the spirit been able to manifest itself into a physical form or is it just the usual floaty thing?”  
“Lily claims to have seen him, yes.”  
“That's not good, have you been hearing anything strange around your house?”  
“Well, right now it's yelling at us, and earlier it claimed that it wasn't dead.”  
“Ok. Tell me you address and I'll be over tomorrow. I suggest you don't sleep in your house tonight unless you want it to abduct one of you.”  
“Oh, ok.” Francis told him their address and Vladimir hung up. He turned to face the other two, “He says not to spend the night here or one of us will get abducted, so any ideas on where we can go?”  
“We might be able to spend the night at Elizabetta’s house. She's always insisting we come over.” Roderich suggested.  
“Ring her up then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Part one is almost done!


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same as previous chapters

A strawberry blond man stepped out of his car. His large mahogany eyes locked themselves on the house. He turned to face the three people who lived there, “Hello!”  
They stood up, “So, would you like a tour of the house?” Roderich asked.  
“That would be delightful.” Vladimir smiled warmly. He rarely got calls about hauntings, most of the time it was some false accusation that someone was a monster. This was exciting for him, and by the sounds of it, this would be the worst case of a haunting that he'd ever seen.  
He glanced over to Lily. She looked scared of something. He offered to hold her hand, “So, what's got you so scared?”  
She took his hand, “Well, I'm fairly positive that my brother's the ghost, but what if it's not? What if it's something terrible? What if my brother is trying to protect us from whatever this thing is?”  
“While that is a possibility, it's likely that it's just some lost soul with nowhere else to go. What makes you think it's Vash?”  
“Well, I saw him!”  
“Oh. May I ask how he died?”  
“A burning tree fell on our house. It killed my parents too. But for him, there wasn't even a body left to bury.”  
“Was there any DNA evidence in the ashes to show that he'd been burned to ash?”  
“I don't know. I just know that there wasn't anything to bury.”  
“It's possible that some other spirit dragged him away to the ghost plane. He might still be alive.”  
Lily's eyes sparked with hope, “Really?”  
“I was told that your house claimed that it wasn't dead, am I correct?”  
“Yes!”  
“Then Vash being alive is a very likely option.”  
Francis lead him to the spot on the ceiling where the items fell from. Vladimir stopped and watched as a tissue box fell from it. He examined the box carefully. There was a thin layer of a red jelly-like substance on it, “Have all of the items that have fallen from here been covered in this?”  
Roderich glanced at the small pile of things that had fallen from the ceiling, “Yeah.”  
Vladimir was then lead to Lily's room. He wandered around, stopping occasionally, “Would it be ok if I marked a spot on the floor?”  
“Go ahead.” Francis handed him a marker that had been flying around his head.  
“Thanks, this is the spot where gravity is lightest. It's possible that the spirit travels here frequently.” He then noticed a light emerging from the closet, “How long has the closet been doing that?”  
“Since this morning.” Lily answered.  
He opened it and found that the wall of the closet had formed into a weird vortex. He closed the closet quickly, “Don't go in there.”  
“Why?” Lily asked.  
“It's a portal to their world. Since we don't know how to get people out of there yet we'll have to just keep an eye on it.”  
Once the tour of the house was done, Vladimir had enough evidence to form a reasonable hypothesis on what exactly was going on, “From what I've gathered, something forced Vash to the other side and he's trying to come back. It's possible that there are many other things keeping him there and terrorizing your home. This isn't the work of one spirit. There are many, possibly even hundreds.”  
Francis and Roderich exchanged concerned glances, Lily however was ecstatic, “If Vash is still alive then we have to save him!”  
“That could be dangerous with how many there are. We'd have to be one hundred percent positive that he's alive before we can even try bringing him to our side. Doing so could be dangerous and would lead to some unnecessary deaths. Necromancy is illegal for a reason.”  
“Then, what can we do?” Lily asked.  
“I'm going to set up some equipment around the house so that we can hear what they're saying. Hopefully we'll be able to talk to him.”

Lily helped Vladimir set up the house, while Francis and Roderich removed everything from Lily's room. With the house all set up and Lily's room safe for people, they were ready. All they had to do was wait.  
“Ghosts tend to be more active at night. It's possible that there is water of some kind in their plane of existence, and the moon’s gravitational pull has a great effect on water regardless of which plane it's on. Lucky for us, a full moon is coming, so their plane will be more visible to us.” Vladimir explained. 

Nightfall was a welcomed sight. At 10, Vladimir’s radars started picking things up. They were just whispers at the time, but when midnight rolled around, they could hear loud incomprehensible noises.  
Lily? Lily where are you? One of the radars finally picked up words.  
Vladimir signaled for Lily to respond, “Vash? Is that you? I'm here! Where are you?”  
Lily? Lily! Florian won't let me go! Lily please help!  
“What do you see?”  
It's so dark… There's a light! They want me to go to the light!   
Vladimir’s eyes widened, “Tell him to stay away from the light!”  
“Vash, the light is dangerous, stay away from it!”  
Florian won't let me leave until I take them to the light! Lily I want to go home! There was a soft whimper.  
“You must stay away from the light Vash!”  
Vladimir looked at Lily, “Who's Florian?”  
“Vash, who is Florian?”  
He's….. He's me.   
“Can you please explain?”  
Lily, I'm scared! I just want to go home!  
“You will, but we have to know who Florian is!”  
He lead them to their deaths! They can't go home and it's all my fault! They are lost, they need to be lead to the light!  
“Stay away from the light, Vash!” Lily looked to Vladimir f for help. He simply took notes.  
“Vash, it's Vladimir, do you remember me?”  
Yes  
“Good, we have a plan to get you home, but you have to tell us who Florian is.”  
He saved me, I have to repay him. I have to take them to the light.  
“Are you alive?”  
Yes  
“Then stay away from the light. We'll save you as soon as we can.”  
The radar made a loud incomprehensible sound before the house’s windows shattered.   
Lily stared at the radar, “Vash, what's happening? Are you ok?”  
A voice similar to Vash's answered, “Leave him alone.”  
Vladimir looked up, “Who are you?”  
My name is Florian Zwingli, and I gave Vash life. He's in debt and it must be repaid.  
The radar was suddenly quiet. The four waited anxiously for something to happen. 

The next morning, Vladimir looked more excited than he'd ever been in his whole life, “So, I think I figured out how to save him.”  
“How?” Roderich asked.  
Vladimir smirked and pointed at the ceiling.  
“Mon ami, how is our ceiling possibly going to be able to save him?” Francis asked.  
Vladimir smirked deviously, “Well, this place has a portal there, so it must have a way out. That got me thinking, what in this house has a habit of spitting up things that crossed over? Well, Lily told me that the ceiling only sports up the things that used to be in her house before the burning tree incident. So it's possible that when Vash was dragged over, that those things were dragged over too.”  
Roderich nodded, “Do you know for certain that her closet and the ceiling are connected?”  
“Only one way to find out. Francis, Lily, you stay down here. Tell us if these come back through.” Vladimir took a few tennis balls out of his backpack and dragged Roderich to Lily's room. He numbered the first ball and opened the closet door. He tossed it in and waited for a response.  
Lily and Francis stared in surprise as it fell from the ceiling. Lily ran up to Vladimir, “It came through!”  
“Good, I'm tossing in another one.”   
Francis caught it and tossed it over to Lily, who returned it to Vladimir.  
“One more.” Vladimir tossed the last one in.   
Francis smiled as it landed in his hands, “It worked.”  
“Great! I gotta go to the store to get some rope and harnesses. If we're going through, we don't want to get lost in there.”

Lily walked alongside Roderich in the store, “So, this Florian guy, I can't help but feel like he sounds familiar.”  
“He had your last name, so of course he does.”   
“Well yeah, I mean I've heard his name before.” She thought for a moment, “Oh my stars, he's our great grandfather! He supposedly went missing in World War II, grampa told us about him!”  
“Think that's what he meant by the whole I gave Vash life thing?”  
“Maybe.”  
“Well, if that were the case, wouldn't he have mentioned you?”  
“Think that there's more to it than that?”  
“Yes actually. How old was he when he died?”  
“Grampa said he was a baby when he died, he said that his dad was pretty young. My guess is 18.”  
“Isn't Vash 18?”  
“Yes.”  
“Did your parents ever mention any difficulties they had with him when he was a baby?”  
“Mom said that he wasn't breathing when he was born, does that count? Because other than that they said he was chill.”  
“Then that might be it.”  
Lily was about to elaborate with him on that, but was distracted when Francis turned around to face them, “So when Vash comes back, should we move into a larger house or let him share a room with Lily?”  
“Shouldn't we wait until he's back to discuss that kind of thing?” Roderich sighed.  
“I was thinking we should move, because let's face it, we don't know when or if their room will have stable gravity again.” Francis shrugged.  
Vladimir listened in and smirked, “There's no way in hell that they'll just leave after we get him out of there.”  
Roderich stared at him with a look of concern plastered on his face, “So we're stuck with them now?”  
“Until they can be lead to the light, yes.”  
“Can't there be some way for us to get rid of them?” Lily didn't like the idea of putting her brother in any more danger.  
“There is one way that I know of, but it's a bit immoral.”  
“What do you mean by immoral?” Francis asked.  
“I mean, you'll have to sacrifice someone. They need some fresh meat to lead them to the next plane. They chose Vash for a reason, so you can't sacrifice just anyone.”  
Lily stared at him in horror. She couldn't kill anyone just to save her brother from being hunted his whole life, not even if she absolutely had to! She began thinking, was Vash worth saving? Of course he was, just not at the cost of someone's life.

They waited for nightfall to go in after him, “Ok, so, who's going in to save him?” Vladimir asked.  
“I am! He's more likely to come to me.” Lily stated.   
“Ok.” Vladimir tossed the rope in for Francis to catch on the other side.   
Roderich dragged a mattress on the floor for the two when they came back. He was stationed by Francis’s side to make sure they'd be able to pull them to safety. Vladimir posted himself in Lily’s room to provide extra support.  
With everyone secured tightly to the rope, it was time for Lily to go in. She was a little hesitant, but forced herself to go in.  
The house began booming loudly with agonized screams. The radars roared loudly as well. They all felt compelled to let go of the rope and cover their ears, but they had a job to do. The living room furniture steadily began to hover and the spirits protested loudly.   
Vladimir stared at the portal as a face only familiar to him screamed out, “WHO WILL YOU SACRIFICE THIS TIME?”   
Vladimir squeezed his eyes shut and wished that it could all be over with soon.   
Silence suddenly erupted in the house. Vladimir opened his eyes and saw that the house had been filled with ghosts they were quiet, but they looked devastated.   
“Vladimir! They've come back!” Roderich cried out rejoicefully.   
Vladimir unsecured himself from the rope and ran over to see the pair.   
Vash and Lily looked as if they were sleeping. Vladimir felt his heart sink at the thought that they'd lost them. The ghosts around them looked disheartened too.  
Lily coughed and slowly sat up, “Vash?” She turned to face him, “Vash?”  
Vash coughed and sprang up. He stared at Lily with a horrified expression. He examined his surroundings, “Where are we?”  
“We're home! You're back!” Lily took one of his hands, “You're alright!” Lily hugged him tightly.  
“This isn't our house.” Vash stated.   
Vladimir noticed small smiles on the many unwanted guests.  
“Lily, who's house is this?” Vash asked, “And what are we covered in?”

A week had passed without any disturbances from their ghostly friends. Francis and Roderich prepared to move while Lily helped Vash adjust to the world. Vladimir visited every day to make sure the ghosts weren't doing any harm. They still appeared frequently, but hadn't done anything yet.  
Vash stared at the closet door, “Lily, he'll be back, right?”  
“Vladimir thinks so.”  
“But what if he already was?”  
“I'm sure we'd know.”  
“Lily?”  
“Yes?”  
“What if I told you that I never technically existed?”  
“Of course you do. You're alive, you have mass, what would make you think you didn't exist?”  
He sighed, “Because I don't, never have. Florian and I are the same person.”  
“What? Vash, that doesn't make sense, we heard him! I saw him even when I saved you!”  
“Lily, I'm not real. When I was born I was dead! Florian split his soul in half to give me life! He did it because he's the only one that can lead them to the light. He needed a fresh start, a second chance. What you heard, what we saw, that was just the other half.”  
“Vash, you spent an entire month in that other world. Perhaps you're just a bit confused.”  
“But I'm not. Watch this.” He made his bed hover.  
Lily stared in awe, “How are you doing that?”   
“I told you, this body is basically just a puppet! His puppet!”  
“If you really were him, then why don't you think and feel what he does?”  
“Because we've been separated for too long I guess.”  
“So, what happens when the other half comes back?”  
Vash shrugged, “My guess is that he'll try to make me lead them to the light again.”  
“Vladimir said that it's not going to stop unless we sacrifice someone.”  
“Not necessarily. They only need to be lead to the light, Florian, the other half, can't see it. They only need part of a soul to lead them there. Once they've been lead there, the part of the soul that lead them away should go back right? If not then the person with only half a soul will still be alive. I've been doing fine after all.”  
“How would we even go about that?”  
“Ask Vladimir, he's only got half a soul.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And part one is finished! Be on the look out for part two, The Gifts Of Life


End file.
